Techdirt: "The purpose of copyright is clear: it's to provide an incentive for the creation of new content. As such, it makes absolutely no sense to ever retroactively extend any sort of copyright. The government, backed by citizens, made a deal with content creators: you create content and we give you a monopoly for x number of years -- and clearly that deal was considered fair by the content creators, or they wouldn't have agreed to it and created the content. To go back and change the terms of the deal at a later date is unfair to everyone. It's renegotiating a deal against citizens' best interests. It's as if you bought a car for a price you negotiated, and three years later, the car company comes back to you and says that you need to pay more, because they, alone, decided that they didn't make enough off of you. Even worse, they get the government to force you to pay, saying that you need to do so.
Sounds ridiculous, right? But that's exactly what's happening with copyright extension in the UK."
2 comments:
It's crazy that this is actually an issue. I never in my life would have interpreted a copyright extension to be "welfare" for the musicians involved. I think copyright is a wonderful thing but it is often misunderstood, taken advantage of, and abused at the expense of those it protects. In general, I think most people don't really know how record companies work when they go on and on about how much copyright is good or bad. Honestly, the vast majority of musicians make money off touring not CDs, mp3 downloads, and DVDs of live performances because of how record companies have evolved. Frankly it's pathetic that musicians themselves really think this is fair or logical to do to others. Music shouldn't be about that.
There is a very simple word for this: Greed. It is getting ridiculous. The fact they are trying to renegotiate their deal is absurd and childish. Its too late and they need to deal with the agreement they made, not that they have anything to be unhappy with. They shouldn't really need the money, if the took care of their millions when they still had it. I don't feel bad for the poor millionaire rockers who are losing their house because of their own stupidity. As for the musicians who are not millionaire rockers, why should they depend upon residuals in their retirement.... Greedy bastards.
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